Milwaukee shootings: Community group helps people process, heal

MILWAUKEE - Community groups in Milwaukee are coming together to help people process and heal after last week's shootings downtown.

In the moment of chaos, Emilio De Torre, Milwaukee Turners Executive Director, jumped in to help.

"We were just grabbing more people off the street when we had heard the warning cry that there were shots," De Torre said.

Turner Hall is just steps away from Fiserv Forum.

"We kept folks in here for 30 minutes to 45 minutes until we were sure the coast was clear," De Torre said.

Now, De Torre is focused on helping the community heal.

"This violence struck quickly and people are just learning how to process their emotions behind this," De Torre said.

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With help from HIR Wellness Center counselors, Turner Hall transformed into a free space for people to sift through any trauma they experienced after Friday's shootings downtown.

"Our practitioners here are able to just walk them through it, guide them through it, connect them to their breathing, to their heart, and just giving them permission to really slow down so that they can continue to just go through life," said Xavier Smart, HIR Wellness Community Healer and Counselor.

Support stones with positive messages are one of the ways to help people recover from trauma.

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"It’s a take one, leave one, right. So, just as that reciprocity. You take what you need and give something back and then we invite you to just leave it around the city for others to just kind of see that message and connect with," Smart said.

Those organizing the event said the main goal is to show the city is a community with safe spaces to not only share but heal.